Flash Fiction

The Sinner's CorpseA Victorian medical class has a fresh corpse to work with. This was written in response to a DeviantArt challenge that involved including certain words and having a certain type of ending.

The Tale of Kitten ClamberA DeviantArt FFM challenge, this time with flashers challenging each other to mash-ups of their choosing; joe-wright challenged me to combine Beatrix Potter and Vietnam.- 'Per joe-wright's instructions, ThornyEnglishRose combined Beatrix Potter with Vietnam in “The Tale of Kitten Clamber”, to jaw-dropping effect (no lie: my jaw quite literally dropped. Then, I had no warning).' DeviantArt's GDeyke:http://fav.me/dacfmyq

PrejudiceA 55-word story, and a real experience from my sixth form days. It's something I've always remembered, and I think I convey some very important ideas actually! Also, I challenged myself to produce exactly FFM's minimum word count i.e. 55.

EvacueesA DeviantArt FFM challenge, which was issued in celebration of Ernest Hemingway's birthday and called for the themes of love, war, wilderness and/or loss; a word count of 116; and at least one polysyndetonic sentence.

Intelligent ZombiesA DeviantArt FFM challenge so hard to explain that I must refer you to the original (scroll down for author comments). I have published it here because I had a lot of fun writing it, and it made my fellow FFMers laugh (or so they say). May not be suitable for younger readers.- 'This fresh spin on the zombie outbreak is humorous and entertaining. An enjoyable flash fiction piece from the wonderful ThornyEnglishRose, you won't regret reading this!' DeviantArt's betwixtthepages: http://fav.me/d9emu81

Burning BrightA DeviantArt FFM challenge to write a noir story with a non-human protagonist. When I researched the genre it struck me that the convention of a character on a path to self-destruction perfectly suited my favourite animal, the tiger, which I know a bit about thanks chiefly to the wonderful Sir David Attenborough.

GuinevereA DeviantArt FFM challenge to include something most people see every day; characters originating in myth or legend; the central conflict a problem that would not have been recognised fifteen or twenty years ago; and something that most people have to deal with but don't want to talk about. All this resulted in a rather intense political piece, with adult themes.

An Enid Blyton Tribute in Under 1,000 WordsA DeviantArt FFM challenge to choose elements to include in the story. These choices came from lists of word counts (in this case 999), genres (in this case a school story), characters (in this case a quirky goth girl) and additional elements (in this case the discovery of a corpse); also an object out of the writer's own head (in this case a dragon fruit). FFM is indeed strange, but anyway, this challenge led me to write a Malory Towers parody that people assure me is amusing.

FairiesA DeviantArt FFM challenge to write a 369er: three stories of sixty-nine words each, self-contained and yet related. It's usual to be challenged to write one of these, and this is my favourite that I've done. I don't remember what made me think of the idea.

A Common CauseA DeviantArt FFM challenge to incorporate elements of sci-fi and romance into a story resulted in this exploration of an idea for a dystopia. It did very well on DeviantArt at the time, and attracted a lot of positive comments, as well as a Daily Deviation (hooray!).

TrollingA humorous piece about internet trolling. Well, people on DeviantArt assure me that they laughed. Here is proof, along with the original bad language, which has been edited out for this child-friendly site. (Please don't click if you're too young, but hopefully it'll be blocked for you anyway!)

Personal AdA semi-fictional dating profile that tells its own little story. Now I don't want to come across as sexist, so please be aware, this is not supposed to be about all men; it's just the one.

HairA DeviantArt FFM challenge to write a drabble i.e. a hundred words exactly. I wrote this piece about social conventions, and it went down rather well with my readers.- 'A thoughtful piece, discussing certain views on gender and looks. By mixing what is seen as a stereotyped thought on women with a pinch of humor, the author has managed to make a point, along with telling an entertaining story.' DeviantArt's RunningBear5858: http://fav.me/d3jjppr

On the StreetsA DeviantArt FFM challenge to write a piece of noir fiction. I decided to make London the setting, and my protagonists rats.- 'If you think humans have it tough living in the big city, try being a rat. This exceptional piece of flash fiction reads like any gritty inner-city novel, except that the characters are cut to a slightly smaller scale.' DeviantArt's LiliWrites: http://fav.me/d3jjsmm

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